Next Expansion Leak?

I'm not entirely sure why, but to me it feels like we should be finding out about some "leaked" trademark or something from blizzard in regards to the next expansions name or theme or something of that nature. I'm ready to start speculating with something to base said speculations off of.

Chances of random forum user finding it before most fansites is very very slim

"In the tone of their complaint you can see a mind already made up. Instead, it’s about affirmation they expected and didn’t receive. It’s not about the game getting universal praise from every writer reviewing it. It’s about getting universal praise for buying it."

anyone have the link to that old supposed Blizzard project timeline? It had all the alleged planned expansions listed on it. If I recall correctly (which it is a bit hazy, since it was some time ago that I saw the timeline,) I believe the Emerald Dream was next in line.

I found it but it doesn't have expansion names on it, so I must be mixing it with another supposed release sheet in my foggy recollection.

Why should we expect any leaked information right now? It's actually not unusual at all at this stage of the expansion life cycle to have no information yet.

The first inkling we had of Mists of Pandaria was when Blizzard trademarked the name on August 2, 2011, roughly 3 months before the official announcement at Blizzcon on October 21st.
Cataclysm was trademarked around Jul 1st 2009 and was officially announced at Blizzcon 2009 on August 21st, only 1 1/2 months later.
Wrath of the Lich King was trademarked around July 28, 2007 and officially announced at Blizzcon 2007 on August 3, 2007-- no gap at all.

Assuming the timeframe holds true, we should expect the new expansion name to be trademarked in September at the earliest, roughly 3 months before the official announcement at Blizzcon in November.

Additionally, Cataclysm launched on December 7, 2010, 9 months before "Mists of Pandaria" was trademarked.
Wrath of the Lich King launched on November 13, 2008, 9 months before "Cataclysm" was trademarked.
Burning Crusade launched on January 16, 2007, and Wrath of the Lich King was trademarked 8 months later.
Mists has only been out for 7 months, it'll be 9 months old in June.
So, I don't expect anything on the new expansion until the end of May or June at the earliest.

Right now, the two "patterns" don't line up perfectly, and that's fine-- it gives us a nice, wide window of June-September for the likely time for the trademark (assuming that we should apply slightly more weight to the 8-9 months between expansion launch and next expansion trademark since it's more consistent).

Friendly reminder that I was only one week off on my prediction of Mists' official launch date months before it was announced by looking at Blizzard's timing patterns just like this.

So, I know it feels like we should have something by now, but don't worry, it's not actually "late." A little patience!

anyone have the link to that old supposed Blizzard project timeline? It had all the alleged planned expansions listed on it. If I recall correctly (which it is a bit hazy, since it was some time ago that I saw the timeline,) I believe the Emerald Dream was next in line.

I found it but it doesn't have expansion names on it, so I must be mixing it with another supposed release sheet in my foggy recollection.

You're thinking of the fake list that was admitted fake by the guy who initially posted it, that he copypasted together from info found in the old RPG books.

When asked about the role of women in video games, Samus Aran said, "..." - and then she blew up the planet. AGAIN.

Why should we expect any leaked information right now? It's actually not unusual at all at this stage of the expansion life cycle to have no information yet.

The first inkling we had of Mists of Pandaria was when Blizzard trademarked the name on August 2, 2011, roughly 3 months before the official announcement at Blizzcon on October 21st.
Cataclysm was trademarked around Jul 1st 2009 and was officially announced at Blizzcon 2009 on August 21st, only 1 1/2 months later.
Wrath of the Lich King was trademarked around July 28, 2007 and officially announced at Blizzcon 2007 on August 3, 2007-- no gap at all.

Assuming the timeframe holds true, we should expect the new expansion name to be trademarked in September at the earliest, roughly 3 months before the official announcement at Blizzcon in November.

Additionally, Cataclysm launched on December 7, 2010, 9 months before "Mists of Pandaria" was trademarked.
Wrath of the Lich King launched on November 13, 2008, 9 months before "Cataclysm" was trademarked.
Burning Crusade launched on January 16, 2007, and Wrath of the Lich King was trademarked 8 months later.
Mists has only been out for 7 months, it'll be 9 months old in June.
So, I don't expect anything on the new expansion until the end of May or June at the earliest.

Right now, the two "patterns" don't line up perfectly, and that's fine-- it gives us a nice, wide window of June-September for the likely time for the trademark (assuming that we should apply slightly more weight to the 8-9 months between expansion launch and next expansion trademark since it's more consistent).

Friendly reminder that I was only one week off on my prediction of Mists' official launch date months before it was announced by looking at Blizzard's timing patterns just like this.

So, I know it feels like we should have something by now, but don't worry, it's not actually "late." A little patience!

this is pretty much the perfect answer (aside from it being the actual trademark), and i thank you for taking the time to type all that information out

If they follow their usual pattern, were not gonna see the next expansion until late 2014. MoP really isn't that old.

But equally, Blizzard has themself stated they are working to get content out faster than before, and so far are proving to be doing so. Now, some might say that an expansion is not like a content patch, but do you really think they don't have some of their team already working on story, art, and design assets for 6.0 and the next expansion?

If we get 5.4 by about September (6 months since 5.2), why would you assume a Late 2014 launch, when that would mean upwards of a solid YEAR of Siege of Orgrimmar? We didn't even get that with Cataclysm (was only 9 months from Dragon Soul launch to Mists launch). I'd be expecting a Spring release, March/April.

Games are not necessarily "easier" today. You are just a better player.
It takes more now to impress many gamers than it did 2-5 years ago, because so much has already been seen and done.
Many players expect to be wow'd with every release of a beloved franchise.
These are generally NOT the fault of the developers, but the fault of many players over-hyping and/or setting expectations too high.

Why should we expect any leaked information right now? It's actually not unusual at all at this stage of the expansion life cycle to have no information yet.

It's quite an appropriate inquiry. No need to forget that ICC and DS lasted for like a year each. If we won't have any information about next expansion within this month at all, mark my words - Siege of Orgrimmar will be here for around year too. Open Beta should start at time of Blizzcon and not later, because we were told by developers that this expansion won't have long-lasting last tier - thus people are already expecting some news.

Blizzard has been trying to get expac's out 1.5 years after the previous one, but got held back on the last two. For Cataclysm, redoing all the the old continents was a bigger project then they intended, and (based on my speculation), the MoP theme was shoe-horned in at the last moment (figuratively speaking in development terms).

I believe they already have/had a working template for most of the next expansion prior to MoP going into development. I believe for this reason, Blizzard will finally hit the 1.5-1.75 year turn around for the next expac. I'm thinking Early Summer 2014 is realistic. I'm thinking that due to this, we'll see the trademark sooner then normal.

anyone have the link to that old supposed Blizzard project timeline? It had all the alleged planned expansions listed on it. If I recall correctly (which it is a bit hazy, since it was some time ago that I saw the timeline,) I believe the Emerald Dream was next in line.

I found it but it doesn't have expansion names on it, so I must be mixing it with another supposed release sheet in my foggy recollection.

I'm not entirely sure why, but to me it feels like we should be finding out about some "leaked" trademark or something from blizzard in regards to the next expansions name or theme or something of that nature. I'm ready to start speculating with something to base said speculations off of.

Anyone found anything yet?

It's only May, any "leaks" wont happen til at least august-september or around there, near blizzcon.

Don't think MMO-C's going to leak anything. I think it was the Cata alpha/closed beta information that Blizzard made them take down? Any sort of leak they'd have to take down and potentially piss Blizzard off and revoke any sort of fansite perks. The only real "leak" we'll see is the trademark registration and that's public information.

Funny thing is though, I think the TBC leaks and beta info forum is what originally got me coming here in the early days of MMO-C. Wowhead drew me in with a talent character before it became a search engine. Still was using Thottbot back then too.